Something More Than Night

By: Ian Tregillis

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Length: 13 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's summary

Ian Tregillis's Something More Than Night is a Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler inspired murder mystery set in Thomas Aquinas’s vision of Heaven. It’s a noir detective story starring fallen angels, the heavenly choir, nightclub stigmatics, a priest with a dirty secret, a femme fatale, and the Voice of God.

Somebody has murdered the angel Gabriel. Worse, the Jericho Trumpet has gone missing, putting Heaven on the brink of a truly cosmic crisis. But the twisty plot that unfolds from the murder investigation leads to something much bigger: a con job one billion years in the making.Because this is no mere murder. A small band of angels has decided to break out of heaven, but they need a human patsy to make their plan work.Much of the story is told from the point of view of Bayliss, a cynical fallen angel who has modeled himself on Philip Marlowe. The yarn he spins follows the progression of a Marlowe novel—the mysterious dame who needs his help, getting grilled by the bulls, finding a stiff, getting slipped a mickey.

Angels and gunsels, dames with eyes like fire, and a grand maguffin, Something More Than Night is a murder mystery for the cosmos.

©2013 Ian Tregillis (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

More than a few moments of Brilliance!

I feel like I appreciate it more for what an astounding writing accomplishment it is than I actually enjoyed listening to it. I gave this book my full concentration and while it had some of the most enjoyable writing I can remember, a lot of it went over my head.

I am not always a fan of Scott Brick's narration for some books, but I thought he was spot on for this book and writing style.

Overall, I enjoyed it, maybe more of a 3.5 stars than 4. I still look forward To Mr. Tregillis' next writing effort.

This haunts me

For some reason I cannot get this story out of my head? It was so different! Looking for it again, I found a set of books by a different author and am reading them. ( I could not remember this author) The set I found is lighter, this is much darker. But this I cannot forget! Guess some books do that. Funny part is that 3 stars up there was just after I read this. Wonder why I gave it a 3 ?

part noir mystery, part philosophy class

I really really enjoyed this book. It's a strange combination of genres, and I thought it was great. To say too much would be to give away the plot, but the synopsis isn't bad. The book is told from Bayliss in the first person and Molly in the third person, which was a little odd, but I didn't let it bother me much. The narrator was excellent for both. I also thought that the author did a superb job of making the two very different characters, completely distinct in how they told their parts of the story, a rare talent in an author!

I imagine that reviews of this book will be very divided. If you want to sit back and listen to the poetry of a twisting, convoluted plot (which I'd advise requires if not a small knowledge of philosophy, then a dictionary (or google) on hand), then you'll love it. If you don't like super elaborate descriptions and metaphors then you'll probably find this book bloated in self-indulgent excess. So be forewarned. If you don't like the first twenty minutes or so, don't go on. If you loved it (like I did), sit back and enjoy!

Entertaining Fantasy/Sci-Fi Detective Story

Entertaining story with creative writing style. The plot could have used more development, the characters were flat, and too much was dependent on deus ex machina.

be prepared

slow story, much more interesting lore than plot, and you get a bit out of the loop more than you'd care for

Hard-boiled fantasy

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Only if they like 1930s/40s, hard-boiled slang and hard fantasy.

Any additional comments?

Hard fantasy meets classic crime noir. An odd mix that may or may not be to a reader's taste. If you like your fallen angels to talk as if they are straight out a Chandler tale, plots and a mystery that are billions of years in the making, and a heavenly choir described in terms of wonder and quantum physics, then this might be for you. If not, you just might not be the type of dame or mugg that is hip to such a hard-boiled tale.

Not quite what I expected

The writing was overly complicated and at times it was frustrating to listen to. Also the plot took a lot of unnecessary turns but the ending was okay.

Scott Brick could make tax law sound compelling

I bought this book for the reader. His voice is riveting and worth listening to. Put Scott Bricks voice on top of a great story and you've got gold.

Great story; hard to follow

The stylish noir twist on Heaven and Earth is great. The humanization of angels and the deification of mortals is thought-provoking to say the least. Looking back over the story I can see the whole plot Land how it all came together. However, the prose used to describe many of the Heavenly realms and interactions between angels is SO lofty that it practically makes no sense. That could be the whole point, in a manner of speaking, in that mortals can't comprehend the afterlife.

The narrator is amazing and brings a great characterization to each player in the story. I would definitely listen to another book with him reading.

As a final note, I have read/listened to all of Ian Tregillis' books and I am a fan...this one was just a bit off the well-worn path for him.

as confused as a chicken in a cement mixer

but one hell of a yarn. the sort of book that grabs you by the lapels and makes your ears stand on end.